THE GOOSE POND FUND

Murder and corruption add up for an investment whiz who is drawn into his hometown’s dark doings in this debut novel.

High schoolers Sam and Jake are childhood friends bound for different paths. All Sam wants to do is “go to a good college and get out of here”—here being the Berkshires in Massachusetts. The place has turned into a sin city à la Pottersville from It’s a Wonderful Life, rife with “greed, drug abuse, lack of leadership, and laziness.” Sam’s math acumen is his ticket out, and he gets a financial stake from venerable local Old Man Wesson that helps him to attend MIT on a full scholarship. Upon graduation, Wesson bankrolls an investment firm to be run by Sam and Bitchin’ Ralph, his best friend from MIT. Jake, meanwhile, is set up in the family business, which is running marijuana. He fled town following the death-by-nail-in-the-head of his Uncle Marvin. The two old friends are reunited when, after opening his firm, Sam receives a cashier’s check for $2 million with a note, “Make me some money.” Another check for $13 million follows. Soon after comes word that Jake has died. All roads lead back home, where a police officer leans a little too heavily on Sam, who begins to suspect something is rotten in the Berkshires as, when he is knocked unconscious, he hears a familiar voice say, “Sorry, buddy.” Lytes’ first installment of a series has fine writing, such as this gripping opening line: “When I saw Jake’s Uncle Marvin, who had a tenpenny nail in his forehead, chasing Jake, I knew what was happening.” The author also writes with a strong sense of place. The Berkshires region, with its wide-open fields, is an ideal location for burying things someone doesn’t want found. Characterizations and plotting could use sharpening, though (and the author spells Willie Nelson’s iconic name “Willy Nelson”). Sam retains his naïveté throughout, which strains credulity, especially in the case of Belinda, Jake’s beautiful older sister, who plays—a bit obviously to readers—the role of femme fatale. Sam never appears to really wise up, even in a climactic moment when Belinda has a gun pointed at his side.

An engaging mystery that needs a more compelling protagonist.